Horseshoes on the Fire: The Praxis of Movement and Journey in the Poetry of Sufi Islam

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that the centrality of spiritual journey to Islamic cosmology in general and to Sufi thought in particular, results in the deploying of movement as a leitmotif in Sufi poetry. This centering of movement presumes a metaphysical journey as the process through which the Sufi reader/listener engages with these verses. That is, movement is essential to Sufi poetry at three levels: 1) the Sufi spiritual journey is conveyed through the imagery deployed in Sufi verse; 2), this imagery is expected to lead the reader/listener on a journey of understanding from knowledge to gnosis; and 3) the dynamic imagery is meant to draw a sympathetic response on the part of the reader/listener's psyche, ultimately resulting in their achievement of oneness with the Divine. In essence, the core argument in this paper is that Sufi poetry must not be understood only as a literary form that emerges out of the Sufi Islamic tradition, but rather as an integral part of Sufi spiritual practice. For Sufi poets and adherents, poetry is not merely literature; it is praxis. This is an especially germane point given the popularity of Sufi poetry in translation (with translations often stripped of Islamic references), and its ever-increasing use in non-Religious Studies curricula. Centering the concept of Sufi poetry as praxis allows for the literary analysis of this form without losing sight of its place and function within Sufi thought and practice.